The Secret Life of a Princess
by edger230
Summary: Tigress is a princess with a huge secret, Po is a cook by day and a warrior by night, and they are both star-crossed lovers. Inspired by Mulan and Romeo and Juliet. PoXTigress. Rated 'T' because I'm paranoid.
1. The Secret and the New Cook

**Before I begin, I apologize for deleting my story A to Z Songfics. I **_**HATE **_**that I had to delete it! I can't stress that enough! I worked really hard on it, but apparently I was violating site guidelines and it could have cost me my account, so it was no contest on which one to choose. **

**Another thing, I know I've got a whole lot of stories I need to update, and I'm suffering from writer's block on pretty much ALL of them! Considering the fact that my life is **_**VERY **_**busy doesn't help either. I know I should be writing new chapters to my other stories, but I have a problem: once an idea is in my head, I can't get rid of it! Here's the story!**

"Princess Tigress, wake up dear."

I opened my eyes to see the silky canopy above my head. I sat up from my smooth covers and silky pillows. My maid, Jasmine who was a white rabbit, was placing my breakfast tray on my night stand. It was my favorite, You Tiao. She smiled at me and hung up an everyday princess dress on the hanger of my closet door. It was smooth, long, white and strapless. It had a matching brown belt to go with it.

"Your mother wants to see you after you eat, and your first lesson today is dancing for the ball this weekend." Jasmine said and walked out of my room.

I put the tray on my lap and took a bite. As always, my taste buds danced at the moment it touched my tongue. I wanted to savor the taste of my favorite meal, but I knew I had to talk to my mother soon, so I ate a little faster than usual, while trying to remember my manners. Being the princess of China, I was supposed to be "elegant" in pretty much _everything _I did. I'm not exaggerating.

When I was finished, I put the tray back on the night stand and changed into my dress. After I had changed, I looked in the mirror and gave myself a small smile. I looked to my left at my diamond tiara. Unless I was sleeping, I had to wear it at all times. I gently put it on my head and looked back into the mirror. As always, I looked like a princess. I looked around my huge room. Another day, another lesson.

I walked out of my room and down the giant, spiraling, ivory stairs, thinking about a dream I had had the night before. I wasn't a princess. I didn't even look like myself. I looked like a normal person. I had a family of my own. I had a husband and children. I didn't have to be elegant. I could do pretty much whatever I wanted. The only thing that bothered me was that I couldn't figure out who my husband was. He didn't look like anybody I had ever seen before. My thoughts were interrupted when I reached the bottom of the staircase where my mother, Lady Lijuan and my father, Lord Han were waiting.

"Hello dear." said my mother with her usual bright smile. I smiled back.

"You wanted to see me, Mother?" I asked.

"Yes we both did." said my father.

"As you know, the annual winter ball is approaching." I nodded. "You will finally be meeting your betrothed, Prince Keung of Japan."

I nodded once again, but in my heart I was rather furious. Sure I had known this, but it still made me mad. Why was my husband chosen for me? Why couldn't I choose my own? It's not that I was in love with anyone, but I wanted to make at least ONE choice for myself.

"It is important that you are on your best behavior. Take interest in him and he will take interest in you. Be polite and listen to what he says." Mother said. I just nodded again. I eventually spaced out but still looked at her to make her believe that I was listening.

I brought myself back to reality, when I heard my mom say, "Above all, just show him how wonderful you are." I nodded again.

With that, my mother sent me off to my dancing lesson. As I walked down the hall, I wanted so badly to punch something. I wanted to run away. Being the princess of China may sound great, but try spending a day in my shoes. Everything was decided for me. I couldn't do anything for myself and I couldn't make my own decisions. All I wanted was to be a normal person. I wanted to choose my own life. I wanted to choose my own prince. I wanted to choose my own fate.

I wanted to be free.

There's only one time where I'm free in this life…

My train of thought was interrupted. I wasn't looking where I was going and ended up colliding with someone. I sat up straight and looked into the eyes of someone I had never met, but somehow, he looked strangely familiar. He was a panda. He saw me and stood up, helping me up as well.

"Princess Tigress! I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, that was my-"

"It's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going either." I interrupted. I then noticed he had dropped some papers. I began to pick them up and I put them in his hands. His expression seemed shocked.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a smile.

"You… help me. I figured… I mean- you're not-"

"Not how you would expect a princess to be?" I finished.

"Oh no, I just-"

"It's alright. Many people can't help but wonder the same thing."

He smiled. "Thanks. I'm Po."

"A pleasure to meet you." I replied. I then remembered my manners and curtsied.

"The pleasure's all mine, Princess Tigress."

"You can just call me Tigress."

"Oh ok. Thanks Tigress."

"I've never seen you before. Are you new?" As I said this, I now knew I had seen him somewhere.

"Oh, yeah. I was just hired as a cook."

"Princess Tigress, there you are!" came a voice I recognized as my dance instructor, Donghai. He ran up to me, and since he was a white tiger, he was rather fast. "You were late for your dance lessons and I got worried."

"Sorry, Tigress. I didn't mean to keep you from your lesson."

"It's quite alright." I said remembering I had to sound "proper."

"I have to go. I hope to see you soon." Po said. I smiled as he ran off in the opposite direction.

"Me too." I said to myself as I watched him dash away.

The rest of the day went by pretty slowly. I couldn't get Po out of my head, mostly because I couldn't figure out where I had seen him before. The more the day went by, the more I knew for a fact I had. I couldn't concentrate very well during my lessons and I spent most of the day in my imagination. It was only when it came time for dinner that I paid attention to what was going on around me.

"How were your lessons today?" my father asked.

"They were fine." I replied staring down at the mahogany table and tracing one of the spirals with my finger.

"Are you alright?" my mother asked me.

"Yes, I'm just a little tired." I lied.

That was when I heard Po's voice. "Dinner is served."

I looked to the kitchen door behind me. Po had come out with a cart full of food. The smell of the food made my stomach growl. I smiled at him. He smiled back.

As Po placed the food in front of us, I heard my mother say, "Tigress, dear, this is our newest cook, Po Ping."

"I met him this morning." I replied.

"It's very good to see you again, Princess Tigress." he said. I was about to remind him that he could just call me Tigress, until I remembered my parents were there.

After Po served our food, it hit me. I knew where I had seen him, in my dream last night. He was my husband.

I ate my dinner in silence, which I didn't have to worry about my parents noticing because they were too busy talking about their own days. I was quiet, not only because I was thinking about my dream, but because Po's food was delicious.

Eventually, I went to bedroom. I always left for my room after dinner. My parents accepted this because they knew I was tired and I always went straight to bed after dinner.

Or at least, that's what they thought.

When I reached my room, I closed and locked the door. I went to the very back of my closet, and out of my hundreds of dresses, I grabbed the most ordinary outfit I had ever owned. It was a red vest, with gold designs and short, black sleeves. The pants I had were black and stretchy. I stripped off my dress and put on the outfit. I then pulled a little container out of its pocket. I opened the container and popped two blue color contacts into my eyes.

After grabbing my ordinary shoes, I tiptoed out of my closet and stuffed a few pillows under my covers in case anyone unlocked my door and came in (although no one ever did.) I opened the doors to my balcony, but before I went outside, I looked at myself in the mirror and flashed another smile. Not a small one of encouragement I had given myself this morning, but a real, genuine smile.

I walked out onto my balcony, closing the doors behind me and looked out over the Valley of Peace. On a hill, not too far from here was my destination. The Jade Palace.

I jumped off of my balcony and flew through the air. The wind felt good running through my fur. I landed gracefully onto a roof. Before I jumped to another one, I looked around at the Valley. No one knew about my secret life.

In the day time, I was Princess Tigress, but at night, I was Niu. A hardcore, Kung Fu warrior.

To be Continued


	2. Good as dead

**I'm surprised how many of you favorited this story and reviewed it! I'll admit, I was nervous about publishing it because Tigress is somewhat OOC and this doesn't have much to do with the main story so far, but I should have known better because you guys never put me down! Here's the next chapter!**

After so many jumps through the air, I finally reached my destination. I landed in front of the giant doors and as always, Master Shifu was there to greet me. He bowed. I bowed back.

"Good evening Niu." he said.

"Good evening Master. Are the others here yet?"

"Believe it or not, you're not the first one here this time." Shifu replied as we started walking down the thousands of stairs. "They're all at the bottom of the stairs. We have a new student joining us. He just arrived from Beijing late last night after you all went home. If I say so, he's rather gifted in Kung Fu."

_He must be _I thought. There were only five of us Shifu taught at night including me. It was very hard to get in to this class. The only way you could, other than being extremely skilled in Kung Fu was to take many classes and this was the highest you could get. I had been taking classes here and sneaking out of the castle since I was eight years old.

"Since you've been in this class the longest, would you mind showing him around and teaching him our ways tonight?" Shifu asked.

"I don't mind at all Master." I said, knowing even if I DID mind I still had to. Shifu was after all my master. That was one of the only things that was similar to my life as a princess.

The whole way down the stairs, I wondered what the new student would be like. I don't know why, but for some reason, the first thing that came to my mind was a muscular, tough, lion. Don't ask.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs I saw four faces that I had gotten to know for about three years. Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane smiled at me. I waved.

"He hasn't arrived yet?" I asked.

"Not quite." said Viper.

"Guys, I think I see him coming!" said Mantis.

I looked out and saw a large figure coming towards us. It was dark, so I couldn't tell what he looked like. I looked at the others. They were all standing up straight, even Viper was. When I looked back out at the figure, who was now standing right in front of us, it took everything I had not to scream.

I was as good as dead.

The new student was Po.

I tried as hard as I could to keep myself hardcore. Why did it have to be Po? He knew my secrets! If he didn't I would have been glad to see him. He would know now that I sneak out of the castle every night to live life as a warrior! Would he point me out? Would he announce to the others that I was truly a princess? What would my parents do if they found out?

I tried to calm myself down inside as Po bowed to us. "It's an honor to meet you all." He said with a smile.

We all bowed back. "Good evening Po." Shifu said. "Since this is your first night, Niu, will be giving you a tour of the palace and telling you about our ways.

I did my best to walk up to Po. On the inside however, it sank in that I was supposed to show him around tonight. Now he had more time to figure out who I was!

I bowed to Po again and he bowed back. He smiled, but he didn't seem to recognize me. I had to stop myself from breathing a sigh of relief.

After the others greeted him, we all headed up the stairs. I walked behind the others with Po. I don't know how many times I prayed that he wouldn't recognize me. Eventually he spoke up. I think it was to get rid of the awkward silence.

"I have to say, you bear a striking resemblance to Princess Tigress." he whispered.

Resemblance? Was he just hiding that he knew it was me, or did he really not recognize me? I decided to play along.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I whispered back trying to remember to be hardcore.

"I actually work for her and her family. I'm one of the cooks."

"You must be really good then."

"Yeah, my dad runs a noodle shop and he taught me everything I needed to know about cooking, He wanted me to take over for him at his restaurant when he died, but I always wanted to be a Kung Fu master."

"So you came here?" Po nodded. "How did you get so good? I mean, you have to be _amazing _at Kung Fu to be in this class."

"I snuck out of my house every night since I was seven and took lessons at an academy near my house. My dad finally found out one day, but by then I was twenty and in the highest ranked class. The only place left with a higher ranked class in all of CHINA was this one. My dad finally gave in and let me move here on one condition. I had to get a job as a cook as well."

I was about to reply when I noticed he was getting tired and collapsed. I helped him up. "Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. I may be good at Kung Fu, but stairs are my weakness." he chuckled. I smiled, forgetting to be hardcore for a moment, as he stood back up. That was when Po got a funny look on his face. His eyes grew wide and his mouth opened slightly.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head as if to snap himself out of a trance. He looked at the others, who were farther ahead because they hadn't noticed him collapse. He then looked back at me.

"Tigress?" he whispered so the others couldn't hear him.

I almost jumped. He really HADN'T known it was me earlier! He just figured it out! NOW I was as good as dead.

"W-what are you talking about?" I asked, finding it hard to remain hardcore.

"You're Princess Tigress!" he whispered.

I wanted to tell him I wasn't me. I wanted him to truly think I was Niu. I didn't want him to know my secret. I probably could have convinced him that I was truly Niu, but my mind couldn't figure out what words should come out of my mouth. Without thinking, I accidently confessed.

"Alright it's me!" I whispered. "I sneak out every night to come here as Niu! I put on these clothes and wear blue color contacts to disguise myself! It's the only time I can be free! It's the only place where I feel like I can be a normal person! Please don't tell Shifu or my parents! I can't-"

"Tigress, it's okay!" Po whispered. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" He smiled.

My eyes grew wide. "Really?" Po nodded again still smiling.

I slowly began to realize that I WASN'T about to get grounded for the rest of my life or kicked out of the Jade Palace. Po would keep my secret! I was safe! I knew I had just met him, but I suddenly began to trust him. I smiled again.

"Thank you." I said.

Po then looked up the stairs. "However, I think you'd better start pretending to be Niu again." he whispered. I looked up the stairs to see Shifu coming down.

"There you two are! Come on! The others have already started to train!" he said.

"Sorry Master. Niu was just telling me about what all you do here and I guess we just stopped walking." Po said.

Shifu shrugged. "Well she can show you when you get to the top of the stairs. Now come on, we're losing moonlight."

Shifu started walking up the stairs and Po and I followed. Po looked at me and winked. I smiled again.

To be continued

Find out how Po recognized Tigress and be surprised in the next chapter!


	3. What Just Happened?

When we finally reached the top of the stairs, Shifu went inside right away. Po and I on the other hand stayed outside for a moment.

"Over there, up that hill is the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. Up that mountain is the Pool of Sacred Tears. I'll show you the Peach Tree tonight once we're done inside. The Pool can wait for another night because it's a long walk." I said. Po nodded in response.

We then pushed the doors open to reveal the Sacred Hall of Warriors. I looked at Po. A huge smile appeared on his face and his eyes widened. Before I could say anything, Po dashed over to one of the artifacts **(A.N. This was one of my favorite parts of the first movie!)**

"Master Thundering Rhino's armor, with authentic battle damage!" he said. I smiled and chuckled as he dashed to another artifact.

"The Sword of Heroes! Said to be so sharp you can cut yourself just by looking at- OW!" he shouted and put his finger in his mouth. I laughed a little harder.

"Wow! I've only seen paintings of that painting!" As Po continued to marvel at the artifacts, I continued to laugh harder and harder until I fell over. Niu would've just rolled her eyes but considering Po knew my secret, I could laugh as hard as I wanted. Finally I managed to pull myself together, ignoring the pain in my side, as Po dashed to his last artifact.

"No! The Legendary Urn of Whispering Warriors; said to contain the souls of the entire Tenshu Army!" He looked at it for a moment and then whispered into it. "Hello?"

"Have you finished sightseeing?" I asked smiling.

"Sorry, I should've come to see you first." Po said. At first I was confused, until I realized that Po thought the voice was coming from the urn. I smiled and silently chuckled.

"My patience is wearing thin." I said in a ghostly voice unable to wipe a smile off my face.

"Oh, well, I mean it's not like you were going anywhere." I cracked up. Po looked at me and frowned realizing that the voice wasn't coming from the urn.

"Not funny!" he said. I stopped laughing. Long story short, we both ended up falling over in laughter. After we finished, we walked to the Training Hall, ignoring the pounding in our heads.

We went in to find the others training and I remembered to be Niu. Monkey was busy on the Seven Talon Rings, Viper was on the Field of Fiery Death dodging every single blaze, Mantis was on the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors and Crane was practicing his fighting moves on the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom. I looked at Po and could once again tell he was impressed.

I told him about the Training Hall and he listened the whole time. I showed him the rest of the Palace and told him all about it, although it didn't seem he needed it. He seemed to know a lot.

We finally finished in the Palace and by then it was almost two in the morning. We had an hour left till we had to go home, so we walked to the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. We sat down and I grabbed two peaches off of the tree and gave one to Po. I figured I had told him enough about the Palace for the night. As Po took a bite out of his peach, I decided to strike up a conversation.

"So how did you first get to wanting to be a Kung Fu master?" I asked.

Po swallowed his bite of peach. "It's kind of a long story."

"I like stories."

Po looked out at the stars and dark sky. "When I was about five, it was the first day of summer, and the Summer Festival had arrived. There were always a lot of fun activities like games, really good food, shadow puppet shows for little kids or shows in general, sometimes there was even a fireworks display. One time, my dad and I were both at the festival and we had just gotten moon cakes, when I saw a bunch of people crowding around a stage. I walked over to it, not realizing I had just left my dad. I saw someone doing a bunch of moves. He was a turtle with a beard and a staff. He looked rather old, but he was very light on his feet. I asked someone what he was doing and he said he was a Kung Fu master demonstrating his moves. I watched and thought it was incredible. When he was finally done, I tried to walk up to him, but my dad found me and claimed he had been looking everywhere for me and we left before I could even figure out his name. The rest of the night, even during the fireworks display, I couldn't get him out of my mind. I then decided about right when the show ended, that I wanted to be just like him."

My eyes grew wide. "Did you say the Kung Fu master was an old turtle with a beard and a staff?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" Po asked looking back at me.

I looked at the ground. "That was Shifu's master, Master Oogway."

Now Po's eyes grew wide and he smiled. "Wow, cool! I actually get a possible chance to meet him!" He then noticed that I hadn't drawn my eyes away from the dirt. "What's wrong?"

"He… he died of old age."

Po's smile quickly turned into a frown. "Oh… I'm so sorry."

I looked back at him and shrugged. "It's alright. He lived a long and happy life." Po smiled again.

Something then came to my mind. "Hey Po, how did you recognize me earlier? As Tigress, not Niu."

Po was silent for a moment. He looked back at the sky. "The stars are really pretty tonight aren't they?" he asked. I could tell he was trying to change the subject. I just looked at him. He sighed and mumbled something very faint.

"What?"

"It was your," he mumbled the rest.

"What?"

"It was your smile!" Po then covered his mouth as if he had just cursed in front of a bunch of little children.

I cocked my head to one side. "Why my smile?"

Po was silent for a moment. Before the silence could get creepy, he spoke up. "I just for some reason remember it so well from the moment we met. I don't know why, but I couldn't seem to get you out of my head. I thought about you the whole day." He then looked at me. I then realized how beautiful his Jade green eyes were.

"To be honest, I couldn't either." I said still staring into his eyes. I didn't even notice myself leaning closer to him. I didn't notice that he was leaning closer to me either.

I didn't notice any of this until our lips met.

I felt like I was in a trance. I was KISSING Po. I was shocked for a moment until I eventually felt him take my paw. I put my free one on his cheek, deepening the kiss. I could feel my heart pounding, but in a good way. I couldn't resist moaning into his mouth a little bit. This kiss felt strange. Not a bad strange, a good strange. It felt… right. I finally pulled away and we both stared at each other wide eyed. Did that really just happen?

I then realized it was three o'clock in the morning and I had to get home. "I… We need to get back." I said awkwardly. Po nodded with his eyes still wide. We both walked towards the stairs not talking to each other. So many questions were going through my mind, but there was one that out did the others.

_What did I just do?_

To be continued


End file.
